The firmware update will become available on June 1, and may be applied to TiVo Premiere, TiVo Roamio, TiVo Bolt as well as the TiVo Bolt Vox. Users will be able to access the new feature with Amazon Echo speakers or the Alexa app.

Alexa will recognize playback commands like “pause,” “play,” “fast-forward” and “rewind,” and can also change channels with commands like “Alexa, go to Fox” and “Alexa, watch NBC.” In addition, Alexa can open apps when it hears commands like “Alexa, open Netflix”

“With far-field voice control, life becomes more untethered for our customers,” said Andrew Heymann, TiVo’s director of product management. “They can continue to enjoy watching their favorite programming with TiVo’s cool features even when they’re preparing dinner and their hands are too dirty to use the remote, or when they’re exercising, and they don’t have access to their remote.”

Alexa’s capability is not as robust as that of TiVo’s own voice-controlled remote, which allows users to search for content and schedule recording. The new Alexa skill can’t perform these tasks. The remote is sold separately for US$39.

“We want to continue to invest in the Internet of Things (IoT) and far-field experiences with both Amazon Alexa and Google Home, which we have already started working on,” Heymann added.

The Alexa integration arrived on the heels of Amazon’s update of Video Skills API, which supports DVR recording on TiVo, DirecTV, Dish and Verizon devices.